Product Description

Rare two-volume translation of Marquis de Sade's titillating and shocking writing. Adorned with gripping cover art and translated by renowned scholar Paul J. Gillette, this dramatic collection includes Justine, Juliette, 120 Days of Sodom and Philosophy in the Bedroom. No other edition captures so purely the drama of de Sade's forays into human sexuality. This author, who has now become as famous as his writing was considered shocking was a forbear of many theories and philosophies, all of which can be found within the pages of The Complete Marquis de Sade.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #28876 in Books
• Published on: 2005-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 640 pages

Customer Reviews

An enlightening introduction
This is an interesting read, though not for the faint hearted nor those of an overtly religious disposition that may be sensitive to critiques of the same. De Sade was indeed, very ahead of his time in his philosophical argument and was a highly skilled narrator with a broad imagination. Whilst it is easy to state that his views were extremeist, it is however important to read between the lines. De Sade's era was governed by moralist and pious attitudes. You also have to take into account his cultural environment at the time of writing. For example, 120 Days of Sodom, his most controversial works of this collection, was written when he was in the Bastille, when one's imagination could run riot (here he seems highly focused on coprophilia/coprophagia, bestiality, incest and torture). Other works make mention of what would be regarded as edge play (e.g. autoerotic asphyxiation). De Sade was out to shock (and still does) but, by his own admission, all he asks for in return is overall objectivity from his readers, not collusion.

Brilliant
This is just the perfect book as an introduction to De Sade or if you already know his stories and want a book which contains all the best ones. It is clearly printed and is a must for anyone interested in De Sade.

Eye opener
Everyone has preconceived ideas about this author, afer all his name is synonymous with sex, depravity and sadomasochistic practises. However when I delved into the book I found a rich vein of philosophy and social commentary that I hadn't expected. The plots appear to be written with titillation in mind and there is often a hurry to rush from one scandalous sexual act of depravity to the next, yet out of the mouths of the depraved characters - never the virtuous such as Justine - no matter how ill fleshed out they are, come well constructed attacks on the church, its moralities, Christianity and Christ himself.

De Sade is famous for the sexual acts he describes and from his own biography it is evident that he was a brazen libertine well practised in at least a number of the acts he describes but is definitely the philosophical elements of the books that will remain with you, rather than the sexual acts he portrays.